Monday, October 25, 2010

Part of a poem by Nizar Qabbani, entitled-

LOVE AND OIL

O you in the atoms of whose cells
Feudalism hatches and nestles,
Of whom the very desert is ashamed
Even to call
When will you understand?
Wallow
O oil prince
In your pleasure
Like a mop
Wallow in your sins
Yours is the petroleum
Squeeze it then
At the feet of your mistresses
The night-clubs of Paris
Have killed your magnanimity
So you sold Jerusalem
Sold God
Sold the ashes of your dead
As if the lances of Israel
Did not abort your sisters
And destroy our houses
And burn our Qur’ans
As if her flags were not hoisted
Over the shreds of your flag
As if all who were crucified
On trees in Jaffa
In Haifa
And Beersheba
Were not your kin.
Jerusalem sinks in its blood
While you are
A victim of your passion
You sleep
As if the tragedy
Is not part of your tragedy
When will you understand?
When will the human being wake up in your soul?

In spite of the efforts of TGIA the whole poem in English evades us, but this stands on its own for me.
In the course of his search TG found a poem by a young Palestinian named Tamim Barghouthi, called "In Jerusalem", which can be read here -

3 comments:

thankgodimatheist said...

Jemmy, my assumption now is that the title 'love and oil' is not a translation of the Arabic title and that's the reason why we're unable to find it..One needs to go through all Nizar's poems to see which one is it exactly..

thankgodimatheist said...

Coincidentally, just when I gave up, I found the poem in Arabic and the translation of the title IS accurate..But as so far, I did not find a translation.. but who knows?! I'll have another look.

Jemmy Hope said...

Have a look at this, TG.